I'm an active church member and believer, but I'm forced to admit that you're right when you say "they don't actually read the bible".

Personally, I believe that reading the whole Bible alone, without doctrinal aid or justifications from anyone else, will most likely give the reader more negative than positive feelings (thinking about the Old Testament, specially).

I consider myself an open-minded student of religion's history. I have read the whole Bible, the Book of Mormon (more than ten times as it's smaller), excerpts from Al Quran and I've read a lot about related history and science topics, but I usually stick to the Sermon of the Mount or Proverbs when I open the scriptures in need of spiritual aid. :P